HAND-HOOKED RUGS
FOR CONTEMPORARY LIVING

If you’re looking for a superb selection of 100% hand-dyed rug-hooking wool for your projects, be sure to visit my website, Seal Harbor Rug Company.

I also offer occasional rug-hooking classes at my Manchester, Vermont location; find information on the Seal Harbor Rug Co. website.

Traditional Art Form Finds a New Voice in Maine

SEAL HARBOR, MAINE – In the past few years, Melina White of Seal Harbor Rug Co. has become a distinctive voice in the art scene of Mount Desert Island, Maine. This scenic island has been an inspiration for artists for two centuries including such masters as Frederick Church, Childe Hassam, Fitzhugh Lane and countless contemporary landscape painters. Now comes Melina White who uses hand-dyed wools and a punch hook instead of paints and brushes to interpret her vision of this special place.

While her images tend to be traditional—boats, flowers, animals and such, her compositions are contemporary, bold, lively and always well balanced; her palette is both colorful and subtle, and her technique flawless. Art reviewer Nan Lincoln has commented that White’s rugs are so distinctive one can spot her work from 20 yards away. And recently one of her rugs was awarded among the top ten Viewer’s Choice Award at Vermont’s prestigious Shelburne Museum ‘Hooked in the Mountains’ Rug Show.

White began her journey to superior rug hooking at the Inchbald School of Design in London, England, where she studied garden design. From there she went on to study rug hooking at the famed McAdoo Company in Vermont where she discovered her natural affinity for fabric arts. While still in Vermont she owned and operated a ski hat company called Mountain Ladies and Ewe.

About ten years ago White returned to her two primary passions, rug hooking and Mount Desert Island, where she designs, creates and exhibits her rugs to a growing number of admirers and customers. She also has instructed local classes in rug hooking. “My rugs are designed and hooked by me in my studio here at my home studio in Seal Harbor,” White says. “I use 100% wool, rug yarn, which I dye myself. I try to incorporate movement and light in my rugs. And while my most recent works are Maine-oriented as many of my clients own ocean front cottages here, I do have a wide repertoire of design motifs and take commission work on a limited basis.” White says she would like to expand her business to include a design-only department where she would design rugs for others to manufacture.